The weather isn’t cooperating, and our island is empty of birds. We had zero new arrivals today. The forecast calls for more of the same until at least Friday; ouch. We’ve been passing the time by reading journal entries from past years, running to do seawatches between fog breaks, and entering data. For lack of […]
Yesterday visibility was more than 100 miles from Southeast Farallon Island, and we could see landmasses in half a dozen counties surrounding San Francisco. Today, visibility is less than half a mile. We are, as they say, fogged out. Unfortunately, neither weather condition – sunshine or fog – is very good for birding. On clear […]
This afternoon Matt spotted a shark attack from the lighthouse. By the time I got up the hill (to the best vantage point on the island), all that remained was a giant slick of red blood on the water, half a seal carcass, and a few gulls. The Great White was gone. We watched as […]
I arrived on Southeast Farallon Island day before yesterday under clear skies, a brisk north wind, and after a deckhand on our chartered boat somersaulted overboard while trying to transfer gear (it was a tense moment). Six of us are living in a 130-year-old house on the island. I’ll be here until December. The Farallones […]
A couple weeks ago I stood on the shoulder of Highway 58 at Willamette Pass in central Oregon, staring south. It was a clear morning, and, if there weren’t so many trees, I could have seen all the way past Diamond Peak, Mount Thielsen, and Crater Lake, or even the Sky Lakes, 130 miles away. […]
All right, it’s been a couple weeks. I know. This site hasn’t been updated in a while. But a lot has been happening. First, my season working with Purple-crowned Fairy-Wrens has ended. After five months at Mornington Station, I’m now sitting in a hostel in Broome, on the northwest Australian coast. Michelle drove me out. […]
It’s Sunday – my one day off of the week – so Steve and I headed out for a morning of birding. Since I’ve been at Mornington Station for more than four months now, the pickings are getting slim for new birds. Today we scored, though, with four lifers within hours of each other: Yellow-throated […]
Australia is sometimes called the land of parrots (I think there’s even a TV series called “Australia: Land of Parrots”) – and we’ve got abunchathem here at Mornington. Most common are probably Little Corellas – tall as my forearm, pure white, with a crazy crest and even crazier facial expressions. We’ve also got Sulphur-crested Cockatoos […]
Just back from two days in the field. Joey and I surveyed fairy-wrens all day Saturday, hiking 15 kilometers along the Hann River, then camped out to spend Sunday morning birding Lake Gladstone. Our camp site turned out to be mosquito-infested, so, instead of spending Saturday night relaxing by a campfire, we were both jammed […]
Yesterday, while searching for fairy-wrens along the Adcock River, I suddenly felt something big crawling up my pant leg. Assuming an ant, I swiped it out – but then the thing flew off, and it turned into a very large, beetle-like bug with long, bright orange antennae. It bit me a couple times on the […]
It’s been raining for the last eight hours – very strange for the dry season at Mornington. This morning all the roads are closed, campers and tourists are trapped, and interns and staff are dealing with soggy tents. I walked into the office to find Martha asleep on the couch – her tent had turned […]
Michelle, Joey and I spent a rigorous day yesterday exploring some new territory on Mount House, a neighboring active cattle station about 2 hours drive away, looking for fairy-wrens along two sections of the Adcock River. We found some fairy-wrens, but particularly exciting were two Black-headed Pythons, one in the morning and one in the […]
There’s a reason these guys are sometimes called “flying foxes” – just look at that face. Like a fox with wings. Or maybe a baby gorilla (actually, Joey just told me that fruit bats used to be considered as relatives of primates, but it’s been disproved). These bats, called Black Fruit Bats, hang around during […]
Yesterday was freakishly cold here – it only reached 19.5 C (67 F), with heavy clouds and scattered drizzle throughout the day. It might have been the coldest day in several years at Mornington. Today, though, it’s back to the mid-30s (mid-90s), more typical winter weather, with the usual blazing sunshine. Which is good because […]
On Saturday night a few of us headed to take advantage of the full moon by canoeing down Dimond Gorge. We reckoned it would be epic, even before knowing there would be a lunar eclipse! Turned out that about 70% of the moon was obscured by Earth’s shadow as we prepared to launch our canoes. […]
“Hey guys,” said Gary, “Paul Kelly’s sitting over at the restaurant right now.” The whole table lit up with impressed Australians – “What?” “No kidding!” “Here?” But Ethan and I, as representative Americans, looked at each other quizzically. “Who’s Paul Kelly?” Apparently Kelly’s real celebrity stuff in Australia, one of the country’s greatest singers and […]
Michelle, Joey and I headed out early to catch two particular fairy-wrens which hadn’t been banded yet (meaning they are immigrants to the Annie Creek population). Basically, we try to predict where the wrens will fly, set up mist nets in those areas, wait, and hope. Last time we tried this, we got up at […]
Apparently yesterday Australia instituted its first-ever female Prime Minister. “Instituted” being the key word, since she wasn’t elected. Somehow the existing prime minister got unpopular enough that the government turned him out without telling anyone until half an hour before the switch was made (imagine that happening in the US!). So the general population here […]
After more than three and a half months at Mornington Station, I’ve seen almost all the birds here. It’s been several weeks since I came across a new one (serious withdrawal) so, today, when a pair of Pacific Bazas flew into my fairy-wren territory, it was time to celebrate! A lifer! A Baza is a […]
At night, from my tent, I typically hear all sorts of noises: howling dingoes, hopping wallabies, screaming Bush Stone-Curlews, gruff Boobook owls, and yapping Barking Owls. It’s a jungle out there – or, at least, a tropical savanna. Most of those things are hard to find during the day, though, so I’ve been happy to […]
People here say the Fitzroy River, at its highest flood stage, has the 3rd highest flow of any river in the world. It’s a pretty flashy system, though, which means the water empties out quick. The rest of the year, like now, the Fitzroy is meek and mellow, shallow enough to wade across in some […]
We found this mother-of-all-frogs one Sunday at a place called Bluff Pools, a permanent catchment set between massive limestone walls. It was near a Mulga Snake which seemed to be intent on hunting smaller frogs. The amphibian seemed less apt to kill me, so I stuck my camera in its face. The frog didn’t mind […]
Last Saturday I surveyed fairy-wrens past lunchtime, bushwhacking about 14 kilometers along the Adcock River – a tough morning outside. At about 2pm, Katherine spotted me arrive back at station grimy, sweaty, hungry, and sunburned. “Hey, we’re leaving for Mount Leake in 20 minutes,” she said. “Want to come?” Well, sure. Instead of a nice […]
For Sara’s last day (today), four of us were treated to an incredible breakfast. At 5 a.m. Butch, Swanie, Sara and I climbed into Butch’s tiny helicopter (flying with all the doors off) and rode in pre-dawn darkness to a secret overlook on a remote sandstone escarpment, where a dry waterfall cascaded hundreds of feet […]
Yesterday morning I woke in my tent, ate breakfast, suited up, hopped on a quad and drove several kilometers down a dirt track to start a fairy-wren survey of the central Adcock River. It turned out to be an eventful morning. After a couple hours of pushing my way through a nearly impenetrable tangle of […]